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Emergence
This story takes place in September of 96 AE. Act 1 This part of the story is told from the perspective of Thomas Royce, a Varren fisherman. Why did I agree to do this? Sure, I get that we haven't been catching many fish just off the coast, but why did we have to come here of all places? "I still think this is a bad idea." I say towards the other end of the boat. "Oh quit your whining." A voice replies. Another man is standing over our pile of nets, undoing the knots, adding weights, and generally preparing them for casting. His name is Cody Voden, and hes been my fishing partner for the last few months now. "Don't tell me you buy into all that supersticious nonsense about this place." "I wouldn't call it that," I reply, "especially considering most of the population got whiped out, and those that survived ran like hell afterwards." "It was just a bad storm," he says, "Nothing out of the ordinary from what we've seen before. Besides, its already coming into view, so just deal with it and help me set these up." I look off into the distance. Sure enough, I can see a bit of land in the distance. Myvatel, the largest island in the Skal island chain. A previously well populated settlement, until it was enslaved by a crazed nether spirit for almost a decade, and was then almost completely obliterated by a freak lightning storm mere weeks after said nether spirit left. Cody may not believe all of that, but I certainly do. I've talked to more than one person that left the island after the storm, and they all refuse to say anything about what happened. If it were up to me, I wouldn't even dream of fishing so close to this island. But Cody is convinced that it may be the best place to fish, what with all of the stories of what happened keeping other fisherman far away. I hate to say it, but we're desperate enough for a catch that we ended up here in the end. "Alright, alright." I say, "But we ain't hanging around for long, got it?" "Whatever you say, princess." Cody replies, "Now get over here." I nod my head, and drop the ship's ancor. I walk over and start fiddling with a few nets, getting all of the knots out. A particular knot has me stumped for a minute or so, and in that time I risk another glance over at the island. It looks like a storm is brewing, as theres suddenly a lot of cloud cover over the island. Lets hope its going in a different direction than us, cause we may not be able to get out of the way in time unless we move now. "That storm is looking pretty bad." I shout, as the winds are getting stronger. Cody looks over at the island. "You're right, but it looks like its moving north. We should be ok out here." I've never been a good judge of cloud movement, but Cody is. I take his word for it and go back to working on this stupid knot. The next thing I know, an hour has passed, and we still haven't caught anything. "You sure there aren't still fisherman coming out here?" I ask Cody, "Maybe people who had the same idea you did." "There shouldn't be..." He mutters, "At least, not enough to make the waters this barren." Barren is putting it lightly. I've just noticed it now, but the ocean is... oddly calm. The ocean out here is never calm, what with all of the fish helping make currents. Is it possible that even the fish believe in the bad luck of this island? I take another look back at the island. Cody was right, the storm hasn't gotten any closer to us... but... The clouds had turned orange, not quite the same colour as a sunset orange, something much darker. Its almost like... the sky is on fire. That shouldn't be right, its noon. I can still see the sun directly above me. What the hell is happening over there? It takes me another second to realize it, but we're a lot closer to the island than we were when I dropped the ancor. With the sea this calm, theres no way we could have drifted this far. Just what the hell is going on? My thoughts are interrupted by a crash of thunder above the island. Except it didnt sound like a regular thunder clap, it sounded much... harsher. The clouds aren't thick enough for a hurricane, so whats causing it to sound so harsh? Another thunder clap, this time accompanied by a bit of lightning arcing through the clouds. With the clouds so orange, the lightning almost looks blood red. I'm really starting to get a bad feeling about this, we should probably leave. "I really dont like whats going on with that storm, Cody." I say, "I think we should leave." "For once, I agree with you." Cody replies, "Its not like we were catching anything anyway." I breathe out a sigh of relief. I don't know why, but I feel a lot more nervous about this whole situation than I should. Im glad we're getting out of here. I turn to walk towards the ancor, but my attention is pulled back to the island by a loud crash. Not a lightning crash, more like an explosion crash. I quickly turn my head back to the island, and see something that I only pictured in dreams. There is a large, continuous bolt of red lightning going straight down on the island, and I can even see the dirt and stone getting launched into the air from the impact. This beam holds its position for a good few minutes, and I can't even move a muscle to grab the ancor and get us the hell away. After a few minutes, the lightning immediately switches off, and the storm clouds begin to fade. I almost breathe a sigh of relief... but... Something is wrong, the air feels... colder. I can still feel the warmth of the sun on me, but at the same time my body keeps shivering... I... I dont know why. The air begins to shake around me, and the cold feeling grows stronger. I quickly find myself on my knees, clutching my ears. Wait, why am I grabbing my ears? My question is quickly answered, as the air is filled with an extremely high pitched screech. Its loud enough that I can feel it quivering my bones, and its getting more and more difficult to think. A few seconds later, the screeching stops, and I risk a glance up. All I can see is a black figure, oddly human shaped, floating above the island. It hovers for a few seconds, and then quickly disappears straight up, into whats left of the cloud cover. "Wha..." I mutter, "What the hell was that?" I look over at Cody, whos just staring at the sky, dumbfounded. What happened after that was a blur, but I think we turned the ship around and sailed back home as quickly as our little ship could take us. Category:New Voldrania Category:Story